Jan 25 2012
Surf, Snow And Skate Clothing Companies Trying To Give Something Back
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The garment industry is a tricky one to break into for any entrepreneur. The snowboard wear industry is even tougher than most. Boardriders of all persuasions are some of the trickiest customers around. The initial thing you need to have if you’re going to attempt to sell to board sports enthusiasts is credibility. If you do not ride yourself, they will not have any inetention to want to know you. The second thing you want is style. There are loads of brands out there that posses both credibility and style, a few of these names that pop to mind are Volcom, Billabong, Matix, DVS and Rebel 8.
Today Im going to focus on where Matix in particular has come from as they are home grown from the street up with a wicked story because the founders of this company lived and breathed the industry a long time before they got involved in this side of it.
Tim Gavin and Daewon Song are the driver behind Matix. This fact alone straight away gave their company street credibility withing in the skateboarding industry when they set up it in 1998. Both Gavin and Song were and still are today professional skateboarders who became tired of shredding their attire every single time they pushed their limits on their boards. They decided to be proactive about it and established their own line of clothing for skaters.
When they started the business, the lads knew what they wanted: Good looking, hard wearing skate wear that also had a good cause and gave something back. That’s what they made. As their company grew, so did their scope. Now Matix makes clothing and other gear for surfers and snow boarders, too. They have taken on new talent like Marc Johnson and Gabe Kling. These men have pushed the brand to greater heights without having to sacrifice the functional integrity of the original vision.
A cool thing that this company does like a number of the other big names out there in the skate world is cross the traditional bounds as they are absolutely committed to the environment and making the planet a cleaner and greener place. That’s why when you purchase fresh pair of their boardshorts, it includes a bio-degradable trash bag. They would love every pair of board shorts to function as a prompting that it’s our collective responsibility to make sure we clean up the planet.
That was a bold move and one that might easily have backfired with unaffected youth, but like other brands such as Rip Curl, Billabong and Volcom who have this environmental philosophy they did not care. They did it because they cared and wanted to use their influence in a positive way. It’s a true testament to the power of integrity that they got their message across. What the labels who take this approach are really attempting to say is that if everybody did their bit, even something as little as picking up one piece of trash at your favourite beach it definitely can make a big difference on the grand scheme of things.
Jacob Symes has a day job from reviewing up-and-coming as well as established brands in the surf clothing as well as snowboard industries. He in addition has written many articles about mens skate shoes, their affect on the environment and the brands that are involved with them.
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